Author name: Enthusiast

The trick to fitting wooden pieces into impossible recesses is to learn about “ticking sticks.” These simple sticks – plus a sheet of paper – can make monstrous tasks into a easy job. Here’s how they work. “Ticking sticks” go by many names in the historical record, but they are the best technology for cutting a piece of wood to fit an odd opening. All you need to perform this […]

The post Fit Irregular (Impossible!) Shapes with ‘Ticking Sticks’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Every woodworker who sees a downed tree quickly says a short prayer to the gods of nature and immediately thinks of turning that log into lumber. It’s just natural to want to see a natural resource being utilized and not wasted. And, of course, procuring some inexpensive lumber doesn’t suck either! But what does it take to rescue a downed tree? Well, a mill and some friends (with trucks!) would […]

The post Mill a Log into Lumber with Ron Herman appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

First a disclaimer: This is a recollection of impressions following the installation and test running of our new 6” Grizzly spiral Cutterhead jointer, that we bought at full price this fall.  As many of you know, I teach woodworking at the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan. Our program is mainly geared towards hand tool work. To help us prepare stock for projects, shop furniture and to create projects for our […]

The post Grizzly 6″ Spiral Cutterhead Jointer – Impressions from Yoav Liberman appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

File this simple project under quick things to do with a couple of offcuts. A martial artist friend of mine asked for a candle holder for the sword class she teaches at Cincinnati Taekwondo Center. Students are challenged to put out the candle flames with their sword without striking the candles. The holder needed to accommodate 7 candles and include a way to adjust each candle’s height (the tops need […]

The post Martial Arts Candle Holder appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I often come across people who are confused about the difference between a stain and a finish. They’ll use a phrase such as “I want to stain the wood,” or “would you stain the wood for me?” when what they really want is some color added to the wood and a finish applied to deepen the color and protect the wood from moisture. They’re including the finish within the word […]

The post Wood Stain is Not Wood Finish appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

It will come as no surprise that we like hand tools – we do, after all, show you how to use them in just about every issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. But we promulgate “hybrid woodworking” – using both hand tools and power tools – depending on your preferences, and we show you how to make the most of both. “Mortise & Tenon Magazine” is dedicated to pure hand tool […]

The post Mortise and Tenon Magazine: Issue 3 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.